The aim of this study was to determine the specificity and sensitivity of transcranial sonography (TCS) and the Pocket Smell Test (PST) in differing Parkinson's disease from essential tremor. The results were compared with the dopamin transporter scan (DaTSCAN) findings. Based on the DaTSCAN finding we formed a group of patients with essential tremor (51 patients) and a group with the Parkinson's disease (59 patients). The control group consisted of 26 healthy one. To evaluate the olfactory dysfunction the PST was used, whereas by TCS the substantia nigra hyperechogenicity was marked. The sensitivity and specificity of each diagnostic method was statistically calculated. In confirming Parkinson's disease the specificity of TCS was 88.2 % and the sensitivity 94.9 %. The specificity of PST was 80.4 % whereas the sensitivity was 74.6 %. TCS and PST should be performed to evaluate which patients need to be examined by DaTSCAN.

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We present the case of a 27-year-old male who presented with vertigo when pressing the entrance of his right auditory meatus and exposing his right ear to loud noise. A diagnostic procedure revealed bilateral labyrinth weakness, which was confirmed by caloric and rotational testing. The ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials investigation demonstrated a significant weakness of the right utriculus, whereas the cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials were normal, indicating preservation of the saccular response. Radiologic studies did not show evidence of labyrinthine dehiscence. We suspect the newly described association of this clinical syndrome with the previously described histopathology of vestibular atelectasis accounts for these findings.

This study evaluates the total antioxidant status (TAS) in plasma of stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Earlier studies of their relationship showed inconsistent findings. Patients and Methods: We compared TAS between 90 COPD patients and 30 age-and sex-matched controls (mean age 67 ± 7.9, 87 males and 33 females) according to airway obstruction severity, gender, smoking status (current/ former/ non-smoker), smoking-dose, the number of exacerbations in the previous year, nutritional status and hypercapnia. Results: There were no differences in pack-years between COPD and controls, neither in COPD groups. The median time from the last exacerbation was 5 months (interquartile range 3−8.3). TAS was significant higher in COPD than controls (1.68 [1.55−1.80] versus 1.59 [1.54−1.68], respectively; P = 0.03). TAS was significantly higher in COPD men than women (1.7 [1.6−1.8] versus 1.57 [1.5−1.7], respectively; P = 0.001). In COPD groups, there were no significant differences between the severity of airway obstruction and TAS. We found significant positive correlation between pack-years and TAS in all participants (Rho = 0.429, P = 0.004) and COPD patients (Rho = 0.359, P = 0.02), but not in controls. TAS was a significant predictor of COPD (β = 3.26; P = 0.04; OR = 26.01; 95% CI: 1.20 to 570.8). We failed to find significant differences between TAS and smoking status, frequency of exacerbations in the previous year, nutritional status and hypercapnia. Conclusion: TAS was a significant predictor of COPD. TAS was a significantly higher in stable COPD than controls, higher in COPD men than women, but there was no significant correlation between TAS and the airway obstruction severity. Our results suggest that it could be appropriate to include the time from the last exacerbation in the oxidant-antioxidant balance analysis of COPD patients.

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